Larry Wilmore gets advice for White House Correspondents Dinner

As host of this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Larry Wilmore has a tough act to follow in President Barack Obama and a tough room given the contentious political climate in Washington.

Fortunately, Wilmore got some words of wisdom from a cadre of previous WHCD hosts and Capitol Hill insiders during Thursday’s episode of The Nightly Show. (He also received a celebratory penis-shaped cake from his Nightly Show crew, but that’s neither here nor there.)

In a video segment viewable below, 2005 host Cedric the Entertainer advises Wilmore to “make sure you get some food to go,” while CNN correspondent Jake Tapper says to ask the president “really tough questions. Because he loves, loves when people ask him really tough questions.”

While Stephen Colbert warns, “Get out of there,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is the clip’s standout as she takes a not-so-subtle swipe at Donald Trump while encouraging Wilmore to tell “the most funny jokes.”

In a recent interview with Vogue, Wilmore said he’s up to the challenge. “I’m not mean-spirited, but I like doing edgier jokes,” he said. “It’s more like, keeping it 100. It’s a night when people try to not take themselves too seriously, where you can zing everybody, including the president. That’s the approach that I’m taking: Everybody expects zingers, so I’ll zing.”

The WHCD airs April 30 at 9:45 p.m. ET on C-SPAN.